Fraser Kemp: 'Mistakes' over sheets and DVDs on MP's expenses

Fraser Kemp, a senior Labour election co-ordinator who voted to keep MPs’
expenses secret, made repeat purchases of household items over the space of
several weeks.

Fraser Kemp on the campaign trail in 2001Photo: PA

By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor

8:45PM BST 16 May 2009

Fraser Kemp admitted that he should not have claimed for two DVD players one month after the other, and that claims for 16 sheets in the space of seven weeks for his one-bedroom flat were a mistake.

He said he would be repaying the money after The Sunday Telegraph asked him about the purchases.

The Labour MP also claimed for two flat-screen televisions exactly a year apart. He tried to claim one of them for £1,699 but the fees office turned it down. Rather than pay for the television himself, Mr Kemp took it back to the store and got a refund.

Mr Kemp, 50, spoke in support of David Maclean’s Bill in 2007 to exempt Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act – a move which would have ensured that his expenses details remained secret.

The former Labour whip, who has played a key role in the party’s election strategies for more than 10 years, put through receipts for goods which appeared to double up several times.

In May 2004, while living in a small flat designated as his second home in Pimlico near the House of Commons, he put through a claim for £47.94 for six sheets.

A month later, he bought six more sheets, seven pillowcases and eight throws for £141.77.

Three weeks after that, he bought four more sheets for £45.72.

He claimed £89.97 for a DVD player in April 2004, then the following month bought another for £69.99 and claimed that back.

Although his London flat was designated as his second home, Mr Kemp bought some of the goods for it from stores near his Houghton and Washington East constituency.

An upright Whirlpool freezer and separate fridge costing £279.48 were bought in Iceland in Washington, Tyne and Wear, in December 2004. A DVD player, together with a video recorder and £599 flat-screen television, came from Comet in Sunderland in April 2004.

Mr Kemp tried to claim for a second television, a Samsung with a plasma screen costing £1,699, in April 2005. When the fees office wrote to him to advise that it could only pay up to £750 for a television, Mr Kemp took the item back to Currys on the Old Kent Road in London.

He also charged the taxpayer £105.75 for an engineer to attend to his washing machine when he could not figure out how to operate it. An invoice from F&M Services in May 2005 records that the customer reported that “the selector wheel is not clicking round to drain”.

After examining the appliance, the engineer writes: “Machine set on rinse hold. Advised customer.”

Mr Kemp, who is standing down at the next election, seems to have profited from the sale of his flat after claiming legal fees of £1,532 back from the taxpayer.

He sold the property for £230,000 in December 2005, five years after buying it for an estimated £110,000. Mr Kemp then bought an apartment for £475,000 and his mortgage claims increased by more than 50 per cent, from £600 to £1,054 a month.

He had to be reminded by the parliamentary fees office in April 2005, a month before the general election, that he could not claim for property service charges and rates for the whole year as he had not been re-elected yet. Last night, Mr Kemp said: “Bed linen and a second DVD player was an error for which I apologise and will pay back.

“The second television was purchased in advance of moving to a new flat. The fridge and television were both for use in my London flat. There was a problem with the washing machine. But I am happy to reimburse.”

Asked whether he had paid capital gains tax on the sale of his second home, the MP said: “I’ll seek advice from HMRC to ensure appropriate liabilities have been met.”